Thread: Could Henry Cooper have fought at LHW?

I occasionally watch the odd Henry Cooper fight and I have a sneaking suspicion that he could have made 175lbs on a regular basis. In a documentary I saw the other day it said that Cooper was actually 2 stone lighter than Ali - which to me puts him easily in realm of LHW.

The question in my mind is could the likes of Bob Foster take Coopers left hook? To me Henry Cooper would have been an incredibly dangerous and feared LHW fighter - whose left hand would splatter a lot of the guys fighting at the time and if time machines existed - even today.

I am the first to admit that my boxing knowledge is nothing compared to many here, but could Henry Cooper have turned an average heavyweight career into an excellent LHW career if he had dropped down in his prime?

No doubt he could've made LHW, but I think the stark reality was that there was no money to be made at that weight. Not necessarily because of the lack of opposition, but more because LHW was always seen as a "Cinderella division". I think Foster came at the end of Henry's time , and even if he had fought and beat him (which is not a given, Foster was an ATG LHW.), he probably would've still made more money fighting Ali, London, Bugner later on and even being a sparring partner to the top HW's .
He would never have become the face of BRUT by being LHW World champ.

How would Henry Cooper have done vs...

Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks


I'm just wondering. He would no doubt be elated with British boxing today, lots of bright stars and young talent.

Originally Posted by El Kabong

How would Henry Cooper have done vs...

Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks


I'm just wondering. He would no doubt be elated with British boxing today, lots of bright stars and young talent.

Cooper would have lost to all of them at their best weights. Cooper had a monster left hook but he was easily cut and knocked out by the best fighters.

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by El Kabong

How would Henry Cooper have done vs...

Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks


I'm just wondering. He would no doubt be elated with British boxing today, lots of bright stars and young talent.

Cooper would have lost to all of them at their best weights. Cooper had a monster left hook but he was easily cut and knocked out by the best fighters.

Cooper would have smashed them all

Originally Posted by erics44

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by El Kabong

How would Henry Cooper have done vs...

Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks


I'm just wondering. He would no doubt be elated with British boxing today, lots of bright stars and young talent.

Cooper would have lost to all of them at their best weights. Cooper had a monster left hook but he was easily cut and knocked out by the best fighters.

Cooper would have smashed them all

Cooper was regularly knocked out by the top fighters and these guys were top fighters.

Cooper may have had a chance if he was heavyweight the Foster and Spinks were light heavyweight but even then I think he may lose.

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by erics44

Originally Posted by Master

Originally Posted by El Kabong

How would Henry Cooper have done vs...

Rocky Marciano
Jack Dempsey
Bob Foster
Michael Spinks


I'm just wondering. He would no doubt be elated with British boxing today, lots of bright stars and young talent.

Cooper would have lost to all of them at their best weights. Cooper had a monster left hook but he was easily cut and knocked out by the best fighters.

Cooper would have smashed them all

Cooper was regularly knocked out by the top fighters and these guys were top fighters.

Cooper may have had a chance if he was heavyweight the Foster and Spinks were light heavyweight but even then I think he may lose.

yeah I know, its amazing cooper got a hw title fight


if a fighter who had previously lost 10 on the trot fought a hw champ nowadays the bottom would fall out of this boxing forum I know that for one thing

Lets be fair Cooper was pretty average, never beat a decent Yank, a bit like our other favourite Billy Walker. Both lovely blokes who made a good living out of boxing, good luck to them.

Neither was in the same street as John Conteh or Joe Bugner ability wise. This may be a controversial statement to the rose tinted glasses merchants, but I think its fair.

The best recent heavyweights we have had are LEWIS, HAYE, PIKEY and maybe JOSHUA.

Ha ha.

I saw both fights he had with Ali and what I saw was Cooper was a good boxer but his disposition was too easy and to be a good boxer let alone an all time great you have to have a good portion of the beastly side of man's best friend. You can't be tardy with a Pit Bull's dinner.

Originally Posted by johnsebastianmiran

I saw both fights he had with Ali and what I saw was Cooper was a good boxer but his disposition was too easy and to be a good boxer let alone an all time great you have to have a good portion of the beastly side of man's best friend. You can't be tardy with a Pit Bull's dinner.

I was watching the documentary Ali v Cooper was one episode on ITV4 and Cooper was a good guy but small for the new wave 15 stone plus heavyweights that were coming through.

Cooper did well to come back bigger off losses but in hypothetical vs lt hvy the punches come quicker at fresher weight, you'll find no Ali event and Cooper had more slices than a Domino's . That said he flattens Stevenson.

Yes. He would probably drain down to 175 nowadays.

Let's be honest Our Enry was no world beater and struggled big time against the ranked guys.

Had he fought today he'd have disappeared into obscurity - I remember checking his record a couple of years back and he had lost something like 5 of his first 15 odd fights.

But he was the nation's darling and no one will ever forget the punch he landed on Ali. The only time for me Ali looked properly hurt in his career and had it been thirty seconds earlier I'm sure he would have beaten him.

Having never seen him fight though, for me his career peaked with the moment below